breast cancer Archives - Centre de recherche de l'Institut Curie

The Breast Cancer Biology Group

The aim of the laboratory is to understand the molecular pathology of breast cancers, especially triple-negative breast cancers, to identify and validate therapeutic targets. Breast cancers are the leading cancers in women with about 50,000 new cases per year in France. Breast cancers are composed of molecularly distinct subtypes with different clinical outcomes and responses […]

DRUM Team (DNA Repair and Uveal Melanoma)

Our team DNA Repair and Uveal Melanoma (D.R.U.M.) is mainly interested (i) in genomic instabilities in breast/ovarian cancers and uveal melanoma and (ii) in genetics and genomics of uveal melanoma, using innovative bioinformatics and data mining approaches. 1- Genomic characterization of breast and ovarian carcinoma. Deleterious germline mutations of the two major susceptibility genes BRCA1 […]

Dynamics of epigenetic plasticity in cancer

Considerable data have been accumulated across the past decades on the role of mutations in cancer. However, while a number of genetic mechanisms driving tumor progression or resistance processes has been discovered, in many cases genetic mechanisms driving these processes cannot be found, raising the possibility of non-genetic plasticity or rare cell variability. Hence, besides […]

Breast Cancer Biology

Residual Tumor and Response to Treatment

Fabien Reyal followed a dual program and graduated both as a surgeon and as a scientist. After training in gynecological surgery as a resident in Paris between 1995 and 2002, he became a senior surgeon in 2008 in Institut Curie (Paris) and is now mainly involved in breast cancer, plastic and reconstructive surgery. He has […]

Molecular Oncology

Our goal is to identify genetic and epigenetic events involved in tumor progression and new therapeutic targets. We focus on two carcinomas, bladder and breast cancer, and on retinoblastoma, a pediatric cancer of the retina. We use bioinformatics, based on large-scale transcriptomic, genomic and sequencing data, to identify genes and pathways potentially involved in tumor […]

Molecular Mechanisms of Mammary Gland Development

Our aim is to characterize the molecular mechanisms controlling the functions of stem and progenitor cells residing in mammary epithelial bilayer (Fig. 1) and analyze the contribution of these cells to tumorigenesis. Characterisation of mammary stem and progenitor cells In cooperation with John Stingl (Cambridge University, UK) we have demonstrated that mammary myoepithelial cells possess […]

Membrane and Cytoskeleton Dynamics

In breast cancer, transition of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) is associated with increased metastatic risk and drop in survival rate. The invasive switch of breast cancer requires tumor cells to cross the basement membrane (BM), a specialized extracellular matrix (ECM) that separates epithelial cells from the stroma. Following BM […]

Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer

Projects developed by the Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer Team (GEC) aim at characterizing genetic variants involved in familial cancers by considering effects of other genetic or non-genetic factors. In addition to variants involved in monogenic transmission, variants involved in polygenic modes of cancer inheritance are also studied, as well as their interactions with lifestyle and […]

Genome Instability and Cancer Predisposition

We are interested in DNA repair and its link to tumorigenesis. In particular, we study BRCA2, a tumor suppressor involved in DNA repair by Homologous Recombination. Mutations in this gene cause susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer. Homologous Recombination In humans, the central player of the HR process is RAD51; it catalyzes the homology search […]